While growth in data demand is expected to last for the indefinite future, the use of energy to power data centers is expected to sharply decline, according to a recent survey from Mortenson. Data center owners will continue to increase capacity to accommodate cloud innovation, mobility, and the digitalization of any and all information. To contain costs and respond to concerns about environmental impact, data center operators, CIOs and other tech influencers are carefully considering renewable forms of energy. "Worldwide data usage continues to grow, [and that] requires more infrastructure and power to support it," says Scott Ganske, director of operations for the mission-critical group at Mortenson, a construction company that builds data centers. "It's vital that we leverage innovation to help balance energy demand and supply. There are a number of promising technologies that will drive energy efficiency forward in the next few years, and renewable energy increasingly makes economic [and] environmental sense for the energy supply chain." More than 220 data center executives, developers and operators, as well as IT leaders and professionals, took part in the research.